Has anyone read Black or heard Dalton read? I had no idea of Dalton’s range, having had only an unfair and cartoonish view of his work, and his reading of Benjamin Black’s Christine Falls is sumptuous. A sample, that shows his exquisite reading and Black’s exquisite description, is on Audible at http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B002V1696U&qid=1288057197&sr=1-1. I hadn’t read any John Banville, or his work as Benjamin Black, before. It looks like Dalton’s narrated just the Black books. So far?
I hope the Audible link works from outside the US–let me know if it doesn’t and I’ll look for an alternative.
henrietta,
The audio link works fine, on this side of the pond.
I would ve put big money on the fact that Id read one of his novels, a few years ago, and found it slow going. But that probably says more about the state of my ME addled brain, than it does about the novel.
Its beginning to look as though, Id lose the bet. I cant find anything in the list of his works, that remotely resembles the novel I read. Im now faced with the task of rummaging through all the books in the house, until I find it. If I lay awake at night, trying to figure out, just what the hell I did read, don`t be surprised it you feel pinpricks all over your body, as I stick pins in a waxen image of you, while I utter ancient curses, dragged up from the swirling mist of ages long gone!
I have however, just been handed a copy of, ‘The Infinities’, by my wife. She says she couldn`t get into it. My nephew gave it to her. He and his wife, are avid fans of Banville.
Though you can’t blame me, vic, ‘cuz I was talkin’ bout the mysteries he wrote hidden as Black, and read, to boot, by Dalton.
… OWW!
Seriously, I hope you enjoy your foray.
I wonder how much hearing books read affects my perception of them–a lot, I think. When I try to read books I’ve listened to, I inevitably hear the narrator’s voice in my mind.
Timothy Dalton’s work as Bond* has tended to obscure the fact that he has a long and honourable history as a serious stage actor, especially in Shakespeare, so he ought to be able to do a good reading. I saw him 20, maybe 25 years ago in The Taming of the Shrew and Antony and Cleopatra and he was really good. Almost time now for him tackle Lear?
H
*Personally I don’t think he was particularly good as Bond, for whatever reason (which is ironic since I believe he was asked by the producers to do it more times than any other actor, including Pierce Brosnan).
Lear would be wonderful, wouldn’t it? It’s been too long since I’ve been to the theater. Used to love it when my mother lived in Ashland, Oregon.
Another wonderful narrator is Alex Jennings, whose Nicholas Nickleby I listened to–delicious. It was hard to imagine how he created the vast number of voices, from growling and gravely to a young man’s high tenor–and all believable.
If I lay awake at night, trying to figure out, just what the hell I did read, don`t be surprised it you feel pinpricks all over your body, as I stick pins in a waxen image of you, while I utter ancient curses, dragged up from the swirling mist of ages long gone! 
Used to love it when my mother lived in Ashland, Oregon.